That Darn Top Step!

The Slumberland Guest House whose tag line is “Just Ideal for Resting” is my home away from home here in Arua. I always stay in the same room (102) and I know most of the staff. The experience here this trip has been significantly different because of the availability of 24 hour power. I even managed a hot bath this morning, with enough water in the tub to cover my knees! But there is one thing that I just can’t get used to – that darn top step! Pictured to the left, you will see that the top step of the staircase is almost twice the height of the other steps. I’m not sure whether this was an architectural whim, or just a big OOPS from the builder, but it continues to confound me. As I stumble to bed at night I trip up it and as I stumble bleary-eyed to breakfast each morning I fall down it! As you can see there is a lot of stumbling going on here in Arua! You would think I would learn, but my learning curve is extremely shallow, after all there is often 8 hours between my tripping up and my falling down. Plenty of time to forget! I’m in my dinner wait period right now – that period of time between ordering food and actually getting it. The wait varies between 1 and 2 hours, depending on something, but I’m never sure what. Still, since I’m featuring the step in my blog, I hope I remember it on the way down to eat in a few minutes – or an hour or so!

Back to the serious stuff for those who struggle to see the funny side of life.

Three major meetings today. The first was between Ted, Blasio and me, in which we talked through our work here in Arua and the new deals we have in the pipeline.  Then we met with Samuel our egg producer. We had agreed a loan earlier in the week, but we are so impressed by the opportunity and the young man, that we have decided to offer an equity investment rather than make him a loan. This is a brand new approach for us, and we have had to think through all the issues of getting liquidity in a privately held company in Uganda. Eventually, we decided upon a dividend strategy with a put and call option after 3 and 5 years respectively. This more accurately reflects the risk reward that we find here and it will be a good test case for potentially bigger investments for Mango Fund.

Ah the dinner bell – I’ll be right back! Excellent dinner – vegetable curry. But we lost power. Ted and I ate much of our dinner by the light of my mobile phone resting on top of an upturned water bottle, Quite an interesting effect and to be recommended! This seems like the more normal Slumberland experience, but the back-up generator seems to be working fine! 

Back to our meetings.

The final meeting was with my dear friend Isaac who is the head of Here is Life (HIL), a ministry aimed at the people of Aringa – who are largely Moslem.  HIL has three main ministry areas:  a radio station, a translation ministry and a school and farm.  While HIL has had many wonderful ministry years, the school and radio station lose significant money and this puts great pressure on the entire ministry. The translation ministry has just celebrated the completion of the New Testament in the Aringa language. The Bible is now the primary text in many primary schools (can you imagine that in the US?). Isaac and I have had many strategic discussions over the years and today we talked through the options for HIL. I believe that at the end of our session we had felt led by the Holy Spirit in a certain direction, and I felt the weight lift from Isaac’s shoulders. He will now convene his Board to continue the discernment process with this latest input. Please pray for Isaac, he is a wonderful man of God and his heart for the lost is infectious.

All in all another great day in Arua. Praise God!

A Honey of a Trip!

Today we headed north to Yumbe. When I say we, I’m referring to Blasio Leeti, a native of Arua who is our man on the ground here, and Ted Pantone who manages the East Asia operations for Mango Fund (www.mangofund.org). He is also a proud graduate of The King’s College in New York City (a shameless plug for TKC!) A picture of our crack investment team is below!!

Yumbe is the home to Blessed Bee for Life, our honey processing and distribution investment in West Nile. BBL is headed by our good friend Mophart Maphu, a man who has had a vision to make honey a significant cash crop for the very severely underdeveloped Yumbe district. He has patiently taught bee keeping to farmers in the region, built hives and become the cash market for them all. Our joy is to provide encouragement, business advice and loans to allow him to more quickly increase the volume of honey he is able to buy and process. This year his product has passed the certification testing for quality, and soon he should be fully certified by the Uganda Bureau of Standards, allowing him to sell his product in all outlet types and also to export his honey. Last year’s sales were approximately 30m UGX,  this year it looks like he will exceed 100m UGX! Each time we meet with Mophart he sees more clearly the opportunity before him. We discussed next year’s crop purchase plans and he is planning a further significant increase in volume. The money that this puts in subsistence farmers’ pockets is very significant.

The trip to Yumbe is only 78 Kms, but it takes over 2 hours each way. It is rough and bumpy and frankly a tiring journey and one fraught with tense moments,  as the local pick-up trucks filled with goods and passengers come careening at us at top speed. To travel from Arua to Yumbe in the cab of a truck costs 10,000 shillings ($4), but if you want to sit on top of the cargo in the back the rate is only 5,000 shillings. Most pick the top, and as the trucks go past, I’m always surprised that we don’t hit the legs and feet that hang over the side. Ted assures me that this happens all the time and that feet are mangled regularly. Our driver Eric is very skillful and it always amazes me how he handles our SUV with such calm and precision. When you’re on these roads you literally put your life in your driver’s hands – thanks Eric!!

Safely back in Arua, we met with the Church of Uganda (Anglican) Bishop, Bishop Joel. Joel is a native from West Nile and has a great heart for seeing his people thrive rather than just survive (his words). He is always thinking about how the church could make investments that would help the community, but also help the church financially. Today we talked about an opportunity that both he and I had been thinking about separately. It was fun to see how much my meetings and teaching on business influence him. This is exactly why I keep returning and meeting and teaching and encouraging. I can never know the impact I might have, but as long as God keeps leading me back I’ll come and leave the outcomes to Him, but I know that God wants his people in West Nile to be released from this debilitating poverty.

Blessings

Gentle Voices from S Sudan

Today we experienced an unexpected bonus – 100 women from S Sudan dancing and singing at the hotel all day long! The group comprises Sudanese exiles living here in Arua. They are of the Dinka tribe and are active in keeping their native culture alive. They were being filmed during the day for broadcast into S Sudan at some point. They are a very gentle people. Their moves are slow and graceful and their voices are soft and melodic. They literally sang and danced all day. We came and went during the day, and every time we returned they were still dancing! Given the difficulties that the people of S Sudan have experienced in these last years, their songs were both beautiful and moving. We were privileged to witness their performances, even if I did my “ugly American” bit and had to be asked not to film them!!

Below you see them in a camo type uniform, later they changed into traditional dress and finished with modern suits. Apparently they’ll be back tomorrow. I know they’ll sleep well!

Our day was more mundane but very valuable. In the morning we met with Samson and Neria Candiga. For those of you who have followed my reports across the years, you will remember that Samson was my first investment. He is a miller of rice and maize. When we met him he had a rice de-huller and produced about 500kg per year. Now he has the rice de-huller, as well as a maize de-husker and a maize mill to produce posho and this year he will process approximately 40 tons of product. All of this has taken place in 4 years. He has learnt a great deal along the way and is looking forward to being able to expand further. Today we talked through the business and the different seasons, and then he reflected on how hard it is to believe how far he has come in this time. He expressed his gratitude and said he had nothing to give us, but his life and the results of his work are all the thanks we need. Praise God!  By the way his company name is Nericandy Millers. Nericandy is an amalgamation of “nerica” (a local variety of rice, “Neria” (his wife’s name), “Candiga” his family name and “Andy”. In Africa names mean a great deal. I am honored. You can see Samson and Neria below.

In the afternoon we visited our friends at CAFECC. A Christian microfinance Organization, partnered with Peer Servants in Boston.  They are making steady progress toward sustainability, but it has taken a long time and great patience by the folks at Peer Servants. They served almost 500 clients with loans this year, and are working towards significantly adding more new clients next year.

Tonight we’ll call it quits early as we’re off to Yumbe tomorrow (2.5 hr drive) at 6:30am. Pray for traveling mercies!

Blessings

Protein and Surgery

My first day back in Arua, and it’s good to be back!

 Many things are exactly the same: The friendly welcome, Blasio (our man in Arua) taking pictures on our arrival as he has done every time we arrive (he has quite a time series of me aging now!), the broken down roads, the hustle and bustle of people everywhere and Room 102 at Slumberland Guest House (“A Great Place for Resting” according to their marketing!).

But there are also changes to be seen. There were 7 planes and 2 helicopters at the airstrip (Arua International Airport!!) this morning while we were there. What caused this parking lot of aviation equipment, no-one was quite sure, but a lot of people had landed! I have never seen more than 2 planes before and one was being “fixed”, a process that lasted for several months. Arua is on the map? The second and serious advance is 24/7 power!! I can’t describe the joy for the people of Arua to have access to a steady source of power. The dam in Nebbi Town is working! What this means for the economic development of West Nile I can’t predict, but I know that without good power you can only go so far.

We had a good day on the business development front too. We agreed to make new investments in two enterprises, both of which are looking to continue expanding in the egg producing business. One will start with 500 layers and the other 300. They have similar production techniques, but different marketing approaches. It will be interesting to see which does better. The vast majority of eggs come from Kampala on the buses. Local eggs would not only be fresher, but also reduce the imports of one more product into Arua. Mostly, they would add to the total amount of protein available for consumption in Arua.  It’s funny to think of an enjoyable food as a protein source, as a statistic, but in a world of scarcity and regular food shortages, these equations are important.  These investments will not only allow for the creation of profitable businesses, but there will be health benefits for the community as a result. That’s why I keep coming back!

Talking about health, we then met with Ronald, our old friend and business partner for Arua Radiology and Medical Center. ARMC is now one of the biggest clinics in town, having begun working with us three years ago with a small office and an old X-Ray machine and an ultrasound. Today ARMC offers a wide range of services and tests and is opening an “in-patient” facility a few km’s south of Arua for surgery and other more complicated diagnoses. The only serious surgery in town today is the Hospital and there is a long waiting list for elective, but necessary, surgeries such as hernias. The new facility will have an operating room, a lab and 12 beds. The facility will be open in January, so if you need surgery and are in West Nile, I have a place for you!! We are looking to lend Ronald the final loan amount to furnish the Operating Room. This too is the fun part of the job.

So a great first day with Ted Pantone and Blasio Leeti. More to come tomorrow. I’m going to call it an early night to catch up on my sleep and to try to get on the right time zone.

Feel free to write a comment. I love getting them. It makes you all seem so much closer.

Blessings

Be Like Barnabas

Sitting at Amsterdam Airport waiting for the second leg of the trip to Entebbe (Kampala). Tomorrow, I’ll take the Eagle Air flight to Arua and begin my work there.

My overwhelming sense is that I should focus on being like Barnabas on this trip. The son of encouragement! As always I leave with the knowledge that there is nothing I can do to help, but that just by turning up – again – the Holy Spirit will work through me to change the course of lives and the community at large. With God all things are possible.

We will be meeting with the friends who we have been working with for a few years now, as well as some new opportunities in the poultry area in particular. Anything that can add a protein source for the community is worth investigating! I’ll also have the opportunity to meet again with the community leaders as well as preach at the Cathedral on Sunday.

Much of this is more of the same. The new news is that Arua now has a consistent supply of power from the hydro-electric dam near Nebbi Town.  The question that I want to focus on is “What new opportunities does a consistent power supply bring to Arua?” I think it’s probably too early for people to have come to conclusions about that, but I will be planting that question in the minds of the folks there.

I will try to write each day and keep you up to speed and as always I covet your prayers.

Blessings